Transportation and emplacement system of pre-assembled EBS for HLW geological disposal in Japan

HLW disposal is one of the largest issues to utilize nuclear power safely. In the past study, the concept, which buffer materials and overpacked waste were transported into underground respectively, have shown. The concept of pre-assembled engineered barrier has advantage to simplify the logistics and emplacement procedure, however there are difficulties to support heavy weight of pre-assembled package by equipment under the condition of little clearance between tunnel and package. In this study, combination of air bearing and two degree-of-freedom wheels were suggested for transportation, and air jack was suggested for unloading and emplacement system. Also, whole system for transportation and emplacement procedure was designed, and scale model test was examined to evaluate the feasibility of these concept and functions.